Monthly Archives: September 2013

Camera model: Nikon D4 | Exposure time: 1/400s | Aperture: F5 | ISO speed: 2500 | Lens: 24-70mm Zoom. I got the tip off just a few hours before the start of the race that Beckham was coming so I managed to get him in the pit lane first and being interviewed later. I heard he was coming on to the grid and watched out for Bernie; always watch out for Bernie Ecclestone as he usually gives the big hitters a tour! He was a guest of Lewis’ because of his XIX management company and it was a massive scrum. Beckham’s only been to one race before – at Silverstone in 2007 with Victoria – so this was his second grand prix and I knew it would be madness. We had photos of him with Brawn and with Bernie but it was nice to get one of him with a car too.

Camera model: Nikon D4 | Exposure time: 1/500s | Aperture: F7.1 | ISO speed: 2500 | Lens: 24-70mm Zoom. The nice thing about this picture is that it’s shot through the glass in the media centre. This was the first pit stop, and I shot the start of the race from opposite the pits on top of the hospitality units. I did about five or six laps up there and then rushed back because we try to get some pictures back early. Then I dashed down in to the media centre and timed the pit stops nicely to get the two Ferraris and the two Red Bulls.

Camera model: Nikon D4 | Exposure time: 1/10s | Aperture: F9 | ISO speed: 100 | Lens: 24-70mm Zoom. This just sums up Singapore. What you can do here is use these really slow shutter speeds and pan with it to elongate the lights behind – this one is shot at 1/10 of a second. It’s great to get those nice, blurry action shots, and the trick here is to get the car sharp as well. It just emphasises the speed with the lights and everything in the background. The emphasis was very much on Kimi this weekend with the interest in him going back to Ferrari and then having his bad back throughout.

Camera model: Nikon D4 | Exposure time: 1/500s | Aperture: F8 | ISO speed: 2500 | Lens: 500mm telephoto. This was shot on Saturday when Sebastian went on to take pole position, and I’ve seen him do something like this before. I believe it’s dry ice that he’s got around him and it’s releasing out of the cockpit. He’s looking so focused as he’s staring in to the distance and it just shows what kind of heat the drivers have to deal with as he’s not willing to have his helmet on at this stage as he tries to keep cool.

Camera model: Nikon D4 | Exposure time: 1/1000s | Aperture: F5.6 | ISO speed: 1600 | Lens: 70-200mm Zoom. This shot on Friday was still daylight and just about to turn to dusk. It’s nice because you’ve got the one tree right there in between the flyover and the huge modern hotels; it just shows what is the other side of the walls that the drivers are racing between. I went out to Singapore before it hosted its first race and the amount of trees that they had to cut down for the pit and paddock complex was unbelievable, so it’s good to see a few survivors in the city!

Camera model: Nikon D4 | Exposure time: 1/250s | Aperture: F6.3 | ISO speed: 2000 | Lens: 24-70mm Zoom. We were doing a shoot with Ron Walker, Daniel Ricciardo, Mark Webber and Bernie, and with Ferrari being the next garage Stefano Domenicali came over to say hello to Ron and Bernie. Then as he was leaving Domenicali saw Mark was back in the Red Bull garage and went to say hello to him; obviously they had talks last year about a potential move. As he was leaving he saw me taking some shots and he’s smiling and looking right at me as he quickly leaves the garage. It looks like he’s sneaking out.

Camera model: Nikon D4 | Exposure time: 1/500s | Aperture: F5.6 | ISO speed: 400 | Lens: 24-70mm Zoom. Unfortunately we’re without Mark at present after he broke his ankle, so I was present for a busy weekend at Monza and had to spend a lot of time in the paddock whereas the race is my forte. Luca di Montezemolo was there on Saturday and I’ve known him for a while now. He was heading for the garage and John Surtees was there, so the two of them were talking, but I couldn’t get near the garage to get a shot as it was the usual massive scrum wherever Luca went. When I finally got to the front Luca was walking away but I shouted to him to ask him for a photo with John and he walked all the way back for me, which was great, and we got this shot of Ferrari’s 1964 world champion with the current president.

Camera model: Nikon D4 | Exposure time: 1/400s | Aperture: F11 | ISO speed: 160 | Lens: 24-70mm Zoom. I quite like the cheek of this guy – Billy from Williams – who I met at Williams when I was chatting to Michael Caines at the team. This was before the driver parade and he stood with this poster in the narrow walkway between the pits and the paddock so every driver had to come past him. He was getting it signed for charity and he got every driver except Lewis Hamilton to sign it within about five minutes; very impressive! I hope he caught up with Lewis later on as he was missing him and got 21 of the 22 there.

Camera model: Nikon D4 | Exposure time: 1/500s | Aperture: F16 | ISO speed: 200 | Lens: 24-70mm Zoom. Rory Byrne and I go way back, all the way to 1981 in my Formula Two days when he was designing the Toleman. I love the story that he only comes to a grand prix on the Saturday at Monza. Three years ago I saw him and had been invited to the factory by Stefano Domenicali, so I mentioned that to Rory and he said we’d go for a pizza afterwards. So three years ago Alonso had won the race and there I was with Rory Byrne having a pizza in Maranello hearing some fantastic stories. He semi-retired but them came back and every year he carries on and caught him on the GP2 grid this year. Allied to that this weekend was the new with James Allison. Mark was on to me to get a portrait shot of him and I managed to get him on the grid before the race.

Camera model: Nikon D4 | Exposure time: 1/800s | Aperture: F14 | ISO speed: 640 | Lens: 70-200mm Zoom. I love this shot. I was on the start gantry – which was a bit of a gamble as I was the only one up there – and it gave me great shots of the crowds on the straight but I had to wait for the drivers to come out to the edge of the podium. All of the ticker tape and streamers went off in front of the grandstand, so that was then behind the podium for me with the angle I had and that meant I was in a great position to capture it all when Alonso and Webber walked out to spray the champagne.

Camera model: Nikon D4 | Exposure time: 1/800s | Aperture: F14 | ISO speed: 640 | Lens: 70-200mm Zoom This sums up Monza. It makes me think back to 1981 when I was 21 years old and my first trip to Monza was in the McLaren transporter with Niki Lauda and John Watson’s cars in the back. It was a two or three day drive but what I remember from that trip was getting stuck in the middle of that crowd. It was quite scary, and I had to find some height, so I ended up stood on the barrier, leaning on the fence to get some height to get the shots. Looking at this shot now, it’s a fantastic atmosphere that you can see but you wouldn’t want to be in the middle of it. You need some height and I was lucky enough to be on that start gantry to get it.

Camera model: Nikon D4 | Exposure time: 1/250s | Aperture: F4.5 | ISO speed: 2000 | Lens: 70-200mm Zoom. This was in the driver press conference after the race, and Alonso was asked about his complaints during the race about Vettel’s rain light flashing. As Alonso tried to explain that the light was distracting, Vettel said “It’s worse in here [with the TV lights”. Alonso replied “Sebastian is not used to having a car in front so he doesn’t know how it feels to have a red light on!” Eventually Vettel then said “I was trying to get away so it wasn’t disturbing you so much!” and ruffled his hat playfully. It was nice to see that light-heartedness after the seriousness of the race.